(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an oceano-thermosteric power plant in which electric power is generated by harnessing the temperature difference between warm water in the superficial layer of the ocean and cold water in the depth thereof, and, particularly, the operation efficiency on light load at night is improved and the filth deposited on components of the plant is washed away.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
The conventional oceano-thermosteric power plant of this kind is provided with an evaporator, a turbine connected with an electric generator and a condenser as the main components. In this connection, at the electric power generation effected by the turbine which is driven by an actuating liquid alternately evaporated and condensed on the basis of the temperature difference between the evaporator through which the warm water is circulated and the condenser through which the cold water is circulated, the warm water circulated through the evaporator after being drawn from the superficial layer of the ocean has a high temperature from 15 to 33 degrees centigrade, so that such a defect results that filth consisting of planktons, fish eggs and shellfish, dust and the like is deposited on heat-conducting surfaces of the main components and hence the efficiency of heat conduction is lowered. As for the prevention of filth deposition, customarily adopted for obviating this defect, chlorine is injected into the circulating water, or is generated in the circulating water by the electrolysis effected by electrodes provided therein for removing the biological filth, and sponge balls, brushes and the like are circulated together with the circulating water through the main components for removing the other filth. However, in the oceano-thermosteric power plant, the temperature difference available for the heat exchange is so small that a large amount of circulating water is required. Accordingly, the above customarily adopted means for preventing the deposition of filth causes serious troubles such as great expense, environment pollution and others. Concretely speaking, a number of sponge balls, brushes and the like are not only necessitated, but also result in lowered net power output caused by the increase of motive power consumed in the drawing pump, which is generally based on the increased circulation resistance originated therefrom, so that the increase of the cost of equipment and the unit price of power generation results therefrom.
Consequently, the conventional oceano-thermosteric power plant has a shortcoming such that the customary protection of filth can be hardly employed therefor and further results in increased cost.